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Friday, 1 December 2017

A new month means a new hashtag for our creative Instagram community.
We'd love to see your crafty makes throughout December over on Instagram.
Just add the tag #craftingismytherapy_december to include your images in our feed.

The focus of our hashtag is crafting for pleasure, basically taking some ‘me-time’ to unwind in our busy lives. It doesn’t have to be a finished project, we love seeing work in progress, planning posts or tutorials too.

November was a busy month for our Instagram community, we welcomed lots of new faces and I’m constantly inspired by all your creativity.

The grid below shows just a small selection of my favourite images from November’s hashtag. It’s getting harder and harder each month to whittle it down to nine images for my grid. I love seeing all your photos and the wide variety of crafts...thank you so much for sharing your gorgeous images with us. Click here to see the November gallery in full…

I know lots of you have beautiful Instagram accounts and I love the supportive nature of the creative community over there. Please feel free to tag as many crafty images with #craftingismytherapy_december throughout the month. At the end of the month, Jennifer and I will choose our favourite images and put together a round-up post over on Instagram. You can find my Instagram here

– Please share the love and comment on other people’s images added to the gallery.
– If you share your images and use the hashtag #craftingismytherapy_december on any social media channels that would be great. This will help us to grow the community. We will retweet all your posts via Twitter if you mention us (@pouchvintage/@JenniferJain )
– And finally, if you would like to follow me on Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram, you’re more than welcome!
Jennifer Jain’s links are here too: Twitter, Pinterest and Facebook.

To start with you need to create your cardboard 'doughnut' shapes. I prefer to use the old school method of making pom poms with cardboard hoops. I know there are all sorts of pom pom makers on the market these days. But this is my preferred way of making all my pom poms.

It's up to you how big or small you make the robins. I usually draw round a large mug and for the inner circle use an egg cup or similar. As you wind the wool round, you want the inner circle to be virtually full. This will give you a nice, dense pom pom.

I usually like to create a few spools of wool in the shades required for these projects. You need to wind them into these narrow cylinder shapes so that you can thread them through the central hole.

Now you can begin to layer up the wool. First start with a layer of red in top section of your cardboard hoop.
I usually wind round at least four or five layers of red.

Now for the white. Tie on your wool to the left of the red section.
You need to build up a layer of white wool to left of the red. Start winding the wool about 1cm away from the red.
Make sure the 1cm section of white wool is the same depth as red wool.
Carry on winding white wool over the top of red section to create a thin layer of white.
Then do the same on right hand side by layering up another 1cm section of white wool to match depth of the red.
See image below to give clearer idea of technique.

Now you need to start adding the brown wool to the bare section of the hoop at the bottom.
You need to build the brown layer up to match the red and white section.

Once you have wound the brown wool round to the same depth, you need to extend the brown wool layer over the top of white section.
If you want a nice fluffy pom pom, keep winding brown wool around until white layer can no longer be seen.

Once the central hole is nearly full, you can stop layering up the wool.
Now it's time to cut the wool off the cardboard hoops.
This is my favourite part of making pom poms.
Part the wool carefully so that you expose the cardboard beneath.
Carefully slide the scissors between the two cardboard hoops and start cutting the wool.

Once you have cut all the way around, don't take the cardboard hoops off. They will help to hold the wool apart for the tying off part.
Take a length of brown wool and wrap it round your pom pom, tie off securely with one or two knots.

Once the pom pom is secured with a length of wool, you can add the pipe cleaner to create its feet.
Wrap the pipe cleaner around and then twist it once to secure.
You want this twisted bit to be located towards the bottom of the red section (see photo).
This means his feet can be created under the red breast section to help it stand up.

Once the pipe cleaner is secured, you can take the cardboard hoops off. You may need to carefully cut them off, but they should slide off.
To finish off the pom pom, you can give it a trim to make a nice round shape.
Bend the pipe cleaner around to create two little feet.

To complete your pom pom robin, cut out a diamond shape in the yellow felt to make the beak.
Then cut out two small circles in the black felt to create their eyes.
Put a small amount of glue on the felt eyes and attach to robin's face.
Fold over the diamond and glue onto the pom pom.

Your pom pom robin is now complete, doesn't it look sweet?

Now you can make as many festive pom pom robins as you like.
Why not try experimenting with different thicknesses of wool.
The one on the left in the picture below had a layer of very chunky brown wool added and he's turned out very plump indeed...

I hope you enjoy making some of your own and I would love to hear if you've made any.
Please feel free to share my images, but credit me if you do so.
And finally, if you would like to follow me on Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram, you’re more than welcome!

Wednesday, 1 November 2017

A new month means a new hashtag for our creative Instagram community. We'd love to see your crafty makes throughout November over on Instagram. Just add the tag #craftingismytherapy_november to include your images in our gallery.

The grid below shows just a small selection of my favourite images from October’s hashtag. It’s getting harder and harder each month to whittle it down to nine images for my grid. I love seeing all your photos and the wide variety of crafts...thank you so much for sharing your gorgeous images with us. Click here to see the October gallery in full…

October was a busy month for our Instagram community, we welcomed lots of new faces and I’m constantly inspired by all your creativity.

I know lots of you have beautiful, crafty Instagram accounts and I love the supportive nature of the creative community over there. Please feel free to tag as many crafty images with #craftingismytherapy_november throughout the month.

At the end of the month, Jennifer and I will choose our favourite images and put together a round-up post over on Instagram. You can find my Instagram here. The focus of our hashtag is crafting for pleasure, basically taking some ‘me-time’ to unwind in our busy lives. It doesn’t have to be a finished project, we love seeing work in progress, planning posts or tutorials too.

* Please share the love and comment on other people’s images added to the gallery.
* If you share your images and use the hashtag #craftingismytherapy_november on any social media channels that would be great. This will help us to grow the community. We will retweet all your posts via Twitter if you mention us (@pouchvintage/@JenniferJain )
* And finally, if you would like to follow me on Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram, you’re more than welcome! Jennifer Jain’s links are here too: Twitter, Pinterest and Facebook.

I also have a Pinterest board for my blog and I'd love to connect with you on there

Saturday, 21 October 2017

I love all the Autumnal colours that start to appear at this time of year. I decided to create an Autumn themed embroidery hoop using Fishbone Stitch to represent falling leaves.

Fishbone Stitch is great for creating leaves or feathers. There are lots of tutorials on the internet, I suggest searching youtube for a video to help give you a visual step-by-step guide. If you've never tried this stitch before, practise on some scrap fabric first. It took me a while to get the hang of it, but once I did...I fell in love with Fishbone Stitch.

I started this hoop by using pencil to sketch onto linen fabric a number of teardrop shapes. These will make up the falling leaves pattern. When stitching Fishbone, I like to also draw a central line down the middle of the teardrop to help guide me. I find this central line helps me to create a neater shape.

I drew 12 teardrop shapes in various sizes, but you could add more or less depending on your hoop size. I then selected a number of threads in Autumnal shades, such as mustard yellow, crimson red, warm orange and russet brown. I could then begin to create the Fishbone Stitch.

I found this was the sort of project I could dip into now and again, adding a leaf or two in the evening once my daughter had gone to bed.
Once the Fishbone stage was complete, I added two small backstitches in dark brown thread at the base of each teardrop to create a leaf stalk effect.

Saturday, 7 October 2017

My Pouch Vintage Etsy shop has now reopened!In my online shop, you will find handmade homewares, vintage fabric and trims
Pouch Vintage has temporarily been closed whilst I studied a supporting teaching college course.
I've always loved having an online shop and have been running my business on Etsy since 2007.
I also love making items for my shop, so I've started to stitch again.
There is a fresh batch of Lavender Rabbits and Lavender Owls now listed.

I have been making these little guys since 2009. They have always been one of my bests sellers.
I have sent them to new homes all around the United Kingdom...and across the globe to Australia, the USA and Japan, to name a few.
New vintage fabric colourways will be listed as and when I complete them.
Each owl and rabbit is handmade by me using vintage fabric and filled with dried lavender.

Monday, 2 October 2017

I can't believe how quickly September flew by. We're into a new month, which means time to introduce October's hashtag. If you post crafty photos on Instagram, we'd love to see them in our gallery. Simply add the #craftingismytherapy_october hashtag to join in. We will feature a selection of photos throughout the month. Also look out for our round-up at the end of the month.

Looking back to the previous month, September's gallery was full to the brim with goregous projects. A big 'thank you' to everyone who used the #craftingismytherapy_september hashtag. Below is a grid featuring just a small selection of the creatives makes tagged last month. Aren't they amazing? Head over to September's gallery to see all the makers who got involved.

I know lots of you have beautiful Instagram accounts and I love the supportive nature of the creative community over there. Please feel free to tag as many crafty images with #craftingismytherapy_october throughout the month. At the end of the month, Jennifer and I will choose our favourite images and put together a round-up post over on Instagram. You can find my Instagram here

The focus of our hashtag is crafting for pleasure, basically taking some ‘me-time’ to unwind in our busy lives. It doesn’t have to be a finished project, we love seeing work in progress, planning posts or tutorials too.

– Please share the love and comment on other people’s images added to the gallery.
– If you share your images and use the hashtag #craftingismytherapy_october on any social media channels that would be great. This will help us to grow the community. We will retweet all your posts via Twitter if you mention us (@pouchvintage/@JenniferJain )
– And finally, if you would like to follow me on Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram, you’re more than welcome!
Jennifer Jain’s links are here too: Twitter, Pinterest and Facebook.

Apologies for late posting of my August round-up...I blame it on the 'back to school' effect. We're all getting back into a work and school routine and it's all a bit of shock to the system. Anyway, better late than never I always say :)

The above grid below shows just a small selection of images from our August hashtag.

Back to September, we'd love to see what you've been making and creating. I know lots of you have beautiful Instagram accounts and I love the supportive nature of the creative community over there. Please feel free to tag as many crafty images with #craftingismytherapy_september throughout the month. At the end of the month, Jennifer and I will choose our favourite images and put together a round-up post over on Instagram. You can find my Instagram here

The focus of our hashtag is crafting for pleasure, basically taking some ‘me-time’ to unwind in our busy lives. It doesn’t have to be a finished project, we love seeing work in progress, planning posts or tutorials too.

– Please share the love and comment on other people’s images added to the gallery.
– If you share your images and use the hashtag #craftingismytherapy_september on any social media channels that would be great. This will help us to grow the community. We will retweet all your posts via Twitter if you mention us (@pouchvintage/@JenniferJain )
– And finally, if you would like to follow me on Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram, you’re more than welcome!
Jennifer Jain’s links are here too: Twitter, Pinterest and Facebook.

Tuesday, 1 August 2017

August is here - doesn’t the Summer seem to be flying by? A new month means a new hashtag for our creative Instagram community. We'd love to see your crafty makes throughout August - just add the tag #craftingismytherapy_august to include your images in our gallery.

In July we welcomed lots of new faces and I’m constantly inspired by all the images added to our gallery. The grid below shows just a small selection of images from July’s hashtag. We’ve had another busy month again with over 300 images tagged with #craftingismytherapy_july. Thank you so much for sharing your gorgeous pictures with us. Click here to see the gallery in full…so many amazing crafts to look at

I know lots of you have beautiful Instagram accounts and I love the supportive nature of the creative community over there. Please feel free to tag as many crafty images with #craftingismytherapy_august throughout the month. At the end of the month, Jennifer and I will choose our favourite images and put together a round-up post over on Instagram. You can find my Instagram here

The focus of our hashtag is crafting for pleasure, basically taking some ‘me-time’ to unwind in our busy lives. It doesn’t have to be a finished project, we love seeing work in progress, planning posts or tutorials too.

– Please share the love and comment on other people’s images added to the gallery.
– If you share your images and use the hashtag #craftingismytherapy_august on any social media channels that would be great. This will help us to grow the community. We will retweet all your posts via Twitter if you mention us (@pouchvintage/@JenniferJain )
– And finally, if you would like to follow me on Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram, you’re more than welcome!
Jennifer Jain’s links are here too: Twitter, Pinterest and Facebook.

Giveaway terms and conditions
The prize is a set of Pastel Posca and Signo Pastel Ink pens.
To enter the giveaway you must tag at least one relevant photograph on Instagram with the hashtag #craftingismytherapy_august.
At the end of the month we will pick a winner at random from everyone that has used the hashtag.
The winner will be contacted by direct message on Instagram.
Giveaway is only open to residents of the United Kingdom
If the winner does not respond within 28 days then we reserve the right to reallocate the prize.
The prize will be provided and dispatched by uni-ball
The giveaway will remain open until 11.55pm (GMT) on Thursday 31st August 2017.

Saturday, 1 July 2017

I can’t believe we’re into July already, June seemed to fly by. A new month means a new hashtag for our creative Instagram community. We'd love to see your crafty makes throughout July over on Instagram. Just add the tag #craftingismytherapy_july to include your images in our gallery.

This month we are delighted to announce we are working in partnership with Sugru to host a giveaway. One lucky person will be able to win a Sugru Create and Craft Kit. To be in with a chance of winning, all you need to do is to share a crafty photograph on Instagram using the hashtag #craftingismytherapy_july (please see full terms and conditions below).

The grid below shows just a small selection of images from June’s hashtag. I love seeing the wide variety of crafts...thank you so much for sharing your beautiful images with us. Click here to see the gallery in full…

I know lots of you have beautiful Instagram accounts and I love the supportive nature of the creative community over there. Please feel free to tag as many crafty images with #craftingismytherapy_july throughout the month. At the end of the month, Jennifer and I will choose our favourite images and put together a round-up post over on Instagram. You can find my Instagram here

The focus of our hashtag is crafting for pleasure, basically taking some ‘me-time’ to unwind in our busy lives. It doesn’t have to be a finished project, we love seeing work in progress, planning posts or tutorials too.

Grab the Crafting is my Therapy badge to display on your blog:

– Please share the love and comment on other people’s images added to the gallery.

– If you share your images and use the hashtag #craftingismytherapy_july on any social media channels that would be great. This will help us to grow the community. We will retweet all your posts via Twitter if you mention us (@pouchvintage/@JenniferJain )

Giveaway terms and conditions
The prize is a Sugru Create and Craft Kit.
To enter the giveaway you must tag at least one relevant photograph on Instagram with the hashtag #craftingismytherapy_july.
At the end of the month we will pick a winner at random from everyone that has used the hashtag.
The winner will be contacted by direct message on Instagram. If the winner does not respond within 14 days then we reserve the right to reallocate the prize.
This giveaway is open to international entries.
The prize will be provided and dispatched by Sugru.
The giveaway will remain open until 11.55pm (GMT) on Monday 31st July 2017.

The focus of our hashtag is crafting for pleasure, basically taking some ‘me-time’ to unwind in our busy lives. It doesn’t have to be a finished project, we love seeing work in progress, planning posts or tutorials too.

Monday, 1 May 2017

A new month means a new hashtag for our Instagram crafting community. The focus of our hashtag is crafting for pleasure, basically taking some ‘me-time’ to unwind in our busy lives. It doesn’t have to be a finished project, we love seeing work in progress, planning posts or tutorials too.

Below is a grid of a selection of images added using the #craftingismytherapy_april hashtag...

Each month the hashtag will change to reflect the month we are currently in. At the end of the month Jennifer Jain and I will feature a selection of our favourite images...

What are you making at the moment? In April I completed my 'Helping' embroidery hoop.
Even though it has taken me a while to finish, I'm really pleased with the way it has turned out.
I'm going to stretch the finished piece onto a canvas to hang on our wall.

– Please share the love and comment on other people who join in with the hashtag.
– If you share an image please use the hashtag #craftingismytherapy_may on any social media channels, this will help us to grow the community. We will retweet all your posts via Twitter if you mention us @pouchvintage, @JenniferJain or @messymaura
– And finally, if you would like to follow me on Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram, you’re more than welcome!
Jennifer Jain’s links are here too: Twitter, Pinterest and Facebook. And here's Maura's: Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram.

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I like to blog about vintage finds, my latest crafting project and share ideas for entertaining children. You can also find me on Instagram and Twitter.

I'm a proud Mum to our beautiful little girl. She brings out the big kid in me and we like to do creative and silly things together. As a family we love walking, camping, den building, digging our allotment and beach combing...we're happiest when making the most of the great outdoors.